The invention relates to a plate for a closing device for closing a tube-shaped knit fabric, in particular in connection with the manufacture of hosiery.
As a rule, hosiery is produced on special circular knitting machines. For finishing the stockings in the toe area, it is necessary to close the initially tube-shaped stockings. It is important here to sew the oppositely located portions of the last row of loops together.
A device for this purpose is known from EP 0 942 086 A2, which has a plate carrier which is ring-shaped as a whole. The plate carrier is provided with individual plates which are housed in radially arranged slits and are used to remove the last row of loops from the knitting needles. To do this, the needle hooks of the knitting machine needles which hold the loop to be transferred dip into the free spaces of the plates. In the course of transferring the loop from the needle to the plate, the needle with the inserted head moves in relation to the plate. This course of movement, the relative movement between the needle and the plate, as well as the dipping movement, must be highly precise. Otherwise the needle and the plate collide, which can lead to damages, even to functional losses because of the breaking of the needle, or of the plate.
The plate carrier is divided into two parts and therefore consists of two half-rings. These can be flipped together by means of an appropriate guide and drive mechanism. In the process oppositely located plates of the plate carrier are brought together until their loop carrier sections touch. Oppositely located loops are brought together in this way, after which their are connected by a seam.
The respective plates are designed complementary in pairs. While one plate has a protrusion, the oppositely located plate has a recess, wherein the protrusion and the recess engage each other when the two ring halves of the plate carrier are flipped toward each other. In order not to damage the plates here, a high degree of precision is required in guiding and moving the plate carriers. The operating speed of the arrangement is substantially affected by this precision.
Based on the foregoing, it is the object of the invention to design plates for a closing device for closing a tube-shaped fabric in such a way that an increased operating speed is made possible and/or the requirement for precision in the course of the movement and positioning of the plate carrier and/or the needle can be reduced.
This object is attained by means of a plate in accordance with claim 1.
The plate in accordance with the invention has a base section and a loop-carrying section extending away from it. The loop-carrying section is constituted by two legs, which are arranged spaced apart from each other and whose ends are curved toward each other, touch at one place and then diverge away from each other in order to form a receiving funnel. The latter is used for receiving a corresponding tip of a complementary and associated counter-plate when loops are to be transferred. The legs of the plate with the funnel are not connected at the base of the funnel, i.e. at the place where they touch. This has the substantial advantage that the complementary counter-plate can move with its tip into the funnel without damaging the funnel bottom. Therefore larger tolerances in regard to positioning are possible. If the tip of the complementary counter-plate is inserted by a few tenths of a millimeter deeper into the funnel than expected, the legs of the funnel can be slightly spread apart without damage being caused to the funnel bottom or the complementary plate tip.
This can under certain circumstances also allow an increase in the operating speed and in the end permits an increase of the seam quality, since seam errors, such as can occur if the plate is damaged and the respective loop is no longer correctly transferred, can be excluded to a large degree.
It is considered to be advantageous if the legs not only come very close to each other at the narrow place, but touch, so that they preferably rest resiliently against each other. It is preferred for them to rest under pretension against each other. In this way the two legs constitute a relatively stiff and stable eye, but can be spread apart from each other if an element penetrates into the funnel.
The receiving funnel preferably opens at an angle between 20xc2x0 and 40xc2x0. The opening angle is preferably fixed at approximately 30xc2x0. This provides good guidance for the plate and counter-plate when they are moved engagingly together for transferring a loop.
The legs of the plate, as well as the legs of a corresponding counter-plate, are preferably embodied as one piece with the respective base section, wherein their thickness is preferably less than half the thickness of the base section. This results in a compact, altogether stiff element, with good lateral resilience in the area of the loop-carrying section. Moreover, the loop-carrying section is therefore hardly wider than a knitting needle from which the loop is transferred. This occurs even though the legs of the loop-carrying section define a free space between them, into which the head of the knitting needle can extend. In this way it is possible to transfer loops from the knitting needle to the loop-carrying section without being stretched.
The counter-plate associated with the plate differs from the plate at least to the extent that the legs, which initially extend at a distance from each other, are curved toward each other at the ends and touch in one place without forming a funnel. They terminate in a common edge at the place of contact, which fits into the funnel of the plate. In this way the counter-plate is designed complementary to the plate.
The two legs of the counter-plate can be connected with each other at their ends, or simply rest against each other. In the latter case they preferably rest under pretension against each other. But if they are connected with each other, a stiffened loop-carrying section is the result.
The narrow sides of both plates (plate and counter-plate) are preferably provided with a groove extending as far as into the loop-carrying section. The groove is preferably provided with groove walls which diverge from each other in order to ease the transfer of the loop to a sewing device. In that case the sewing device has corresponding loop-pickup fingers, which brush through the groove. The diverging groove walls make the introduction of the respective fingers into the groove easier.
The flexible design of the legs and their loose contact in the end area has the advantage that the legs can flexibly yield when the head of the needle touches. Therefore it is possible to reduce the requirements made on the precision of the needle and plate guidance.
Further details of advantageous embodiments of the invention ensue from the dependent claims, the drawings, or the description. An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings.